A portion of profits from the annual City Lights holiday show, featuring small works and handcrafted items (most under $100), is used to fund community outreach projects.

A portion of profits from the annual City Lights holiday show, featuring small works and handcrafted items (most under $100), is used to fund community outreach projects.

Photo: Contributed Photo

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A portion of profits from the annual City Lights holiday show is used to fund community outreach projects.

A portion of profits from the annual City Lights holiday show is used to fund community outreach projects.

Photo: Contributed Photo

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"Two Boats" is a photograph by Michelle Beaulieu that is featured in the City Lights holiday show, "ArtFul Gifts."

"Two Boats" is a photograph by Michelle Beaulieu that is featured in the City Lights holiday show, "ArtFul Gifts."

Photo: Contributed Photo

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A portion of profits from the annual City Lights holiday show is used to fund various community outreach programs, including this one led by Benin storyteller Raouf Mama (center).

A portion of profits from the annual City Lights holiday show is used to fund various community outreach programs, including this one led by Benin storyteller Raouf Mama (center).

Photo: Contributed Photo

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A portion of profits from the annual City Lights holiday show (and other shows throughout the year) is used to fund various community outreach programs, including a recent presentation by graphic designer Mark Hannon at Bridgeport's Central High School. less

A portion of profits from the annual City Lights holiday show (and other shows throughout the year) is used to fund various community outreach programs, including a recent presentation by graphic designer Mark ... more

Photo: Contributed Photo

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'ArtFul Gifts' gives back to the community

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Purchasing art and fine crafts for holiday gifts can delight the recipient -- and ultimately enrich the community.

That's the thinking at the nonprofit City Lights Gallery, which continues its tradition of giving back to the community with its "ArtFul Gifts, GiftFul Art" holiday show, which runs through Thursday, Jan. 10. On Thursday, Dec. 20, the gallery is hosting a "Shop & Nosh" evening of holiday cheer, with extended hours until 7 p.m.

The show features "one-of-a-kind gifts at an affordable prices" by several local artists, Director Suzanne Kachmar said. "Plus it makes a great alternative to mall shopping. And this show offers the greatest variety of items that we've seen so far in the holiday shows."

"Service to the community through art" is the slogan at the gallery, Kachmar noted.

More Information

If You Go: City Lights Gallery is at 37 Markle Court in downtown Bridgeport, near McLevy Green. Admission is free. Regular hours are Wednesday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays noon to 4 p.m. On Thursday, Dec. 20, the gallery will be open to 7 p.m. 203-334-7748; www.citylightsgallery.org

"This is the purpose of Bridgeport's nonprofit City Lights Gallery. As a gallery, City Lights organizes art shows with local and regional artists, sells art and frames art. Its soul, however, is grounded in community outreach programs -- programs that touch and enrich the lives of thousands, including children and adults in greater Bridgeport."

Supporting City Lights in turn supports the local creative community. "We're very fortunate in Bridgeport to have talented local artists, many of whom live here or have studios in the city. As a community we need to support them so they can live and thrive -- we don't want them moving to New Haven or Stamford," Kachmar said.

Also a major function of the gallery, which serves as a community arts and resource center, is its ongoing project to "provide arts enrichment opportunities to the community. So a portion of (annual) profits and donations, in the form of City Lights memberships for example, go to our outreach programs."

Among the gallery's programs is one that sends visiting artists into area schools, as well as having these same artists offer special workshops and presentations at the gallery.

Last week, for example, Raouf Mama, a storyteller from the African country of Benin who is a professor at Eastern Connecticut State University, visited with students at Bridgeport's Roosevelt School, one of eight schools from throughout the nation chosen to participate in the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities' Turnaround Arts Initiative pilot program. He was to have worked with students who have studied West Africa in the drumming class led by teacher Alicia Robinson.

(Roosevelt Principal Tanya Kelley said her school was picked through a nationwide competition to participate in the two-year public-private funded program that aims to improve low-performing schools by increasing student "engagement" through the arts.)

Mama also performed last month at City Lights as part of Bridgeport ArtTrail events.

Also recently, City Lights arranged for a local professional illustrator and graphic designer, Mark Hannon, to visit students at Central High School, in preparation for the "Big Read" student exhibit at City Lights. He discussed his work and school career and his process for making illustrations on paper and on the computer, she said.

"We can only continue this type of outreach programming with the help of the community," she added.

Kachmar has announced plans for the annual Bridgeport-themed exhibition, "ART/BPT/2013: Details," which will open on Jan. 25 and run through most of February. Interested artists are asked to submit examples of their work in jpeg form, sent to clgallerybpt@gmail.com. The gallery is accepting submissions for a Black History Month show and a March "First Ladies" show that honors America's first lady and/or the first female humans on Earth.

City Lights Gallery is at 37 Markle Court in downtown Bridgeport, near McLevy Green. Admission is free. Regular hours are Wednesday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays noon to 4 p.m. On Thursday, Dec. 20, the gallery will be open to 7 p.m. 203-334-7748; www.citylightsgallery.org